NOT REAL NEWS: Waters didn’t suggest immigrant for top court

By The Associated PressJuly 6, 2018

FILE - In this June 27, 2018 file photo, House Financial Services Committee ranking member Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., asks a question of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. On Tuesday, July 3, 2018, The Associated Press has found that stories circulating on the internet that Waters appeared on CNN calling for the next Supreme Court pick to be an illegal immigrant are untrue. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

California Rep. Maxine Waters did not appear on CNN calling for the next U.S. Supreme Court pick to be an “illegal immigrant” despite a false image circulating online.

The altered image was posted on the Trump Nation Facebook page June 28. It shows Waters during a CNN interview, over a banner that reads, “WATERS: SCOTUS PICK SHOULD BE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT.” The ticker below the breaking news banner says: “IT’S THE ONLY WAY THE DEMOCRATS CAN EVER WIN AGAIN.”

The screenshot appears to be taken from an October 24, 2017, segment in which Waters was explaining a “take Trump out” comment she made in response to a phone call from President Donald Trump to Myeshia Johnson, the wife a U.S. soldier killed in Niger. In both the 2017 interview and the image on the Trump Nation Facebook page, Waters is wearing the same clothes and jewelry and appears with the same background.

Waters’ office said in an email the quote was an “absolute lie,” adding she never discussed immigrants and the Supreme Court on CNN.

According to CNN, Waters’ appearance was on “New Day,” which airs on the East Coast between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. The time stamp on the false image is “12:31 p.m. ET.”

The post spread to Twitter and some radio stations, including Georgia talk station WYAY-FM and Texas talk station KFYO-AM. A parody CNN Twitter account that tweeted the post has been suspended by the online platform.

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This is part of The Associated Press’ ongoing effort to fact-check misinformation that is shared widely online, including work with Facebook to identify and reduce the circulation of false stories on the platform.